Taksim is today the venue for May Day celebrations for the first time since the 1977 Taksim Square massacre, in which more than 30 people were killed. The assailants were never captured, and questions linger over the possibility that there were organized groups behind the bloody attack.İstanbul police have been preparing for May Day for two months. İstanbul Chief of Police Hüseyin Çapkın on Thursday night inspected preparations for May Day in Taksim. Responding to questions by reporters at the Taksim Police Station, Çapkın said 22,500 police officers would be on duty in Taksim. “I hope the day will be celebrated in a festive atmosphere. We also see ourselves as laborers,” he said.
Hopes are high for a peaceful May Day as representatives of various labor unions have reaffirmed their commitment to peaceful demonstrations today. The Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Turk-İş), the Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-İş), the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DİSK), the Civil Servants’ Trade Union (Memur-Sen), the Turkish Public Workers’ Labor Union (Kamu-Sen) and the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) have already announced that they will have a mass gathering at Taksim Square this year, as they tried to do in 2009. Last year, protesters fought with police and eventually gained access to the square. The İstanbul Governor’s Office did not approve celebrations in Taksim Square in 2009 but advised unions to gather at another place over concerns relating to general public order and security.
In April 2009, Parliament announced that May 1 would again be an official holiday. Shortly after the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup, the National Security Council (MGK) put an end to the official recognition of the May 1 holiday. Also known as Workers’ Day, the holiday used to see clashes between protesters and police in Turkey each year over whether celebrations would take place in Taksim Square.
Labor unions will also stage demonstrations across Turkey to celebrate May Day. Unions will gather in Sıhhiye Square in Ankara. Ankara Governor Kemal Önal said yesterday that his office has taken every measure to enable residents of Ankara to mark the day in peace.
Ümit Boyner, the chairwoman of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD), issued a message yesterday on the occasion of May Day, expressing satisfaction that the labor unions’ decade-long demand to celebrate the day in Taksim Square has been met, a move she hopes will contribute to social peace. “The fact that light has yet to be shed on the nefarious event that took place in 1977, just like many other unsolved murders, is still a disgrace for Turkish democracy,” she said.
